Kaitou KID Taskforce Officer Sasaki Ryota would like the idiots with more gemstones than braincells to stop setting potentially deadly traps in their attempts to catch Kaitou KID.
(Text of Rule 23 is as follows: Preparations for each heist shall include the arrangement for standby presence of EMTs and firefighters in case of unexpected emergency.)
A/N: This fic was previously titled 'Rule 62', but I decided to post these Heist Rules as a single fic here because of the lack of ability to easily find things in a series and my non-numerical posting order.
Sasaki is my first attempt at creating a character in the Taskforce, hope y'all enjoy his POV :)
Officer Sasaki Ryota will be registering a complaint regarding this so-called 'security system'. Especially since it involves the least amount of care for chemical safety he's seen outside a drugs bust. If it weren't for these rich idiots insisting on their ridiculous 'security' when they've never even hired a private team before, much less designed a security system, the Taskforce's job would be much simpler. Sasaki frequently wonders how they manage to survive much less pull off whatever business keeps them rich enough to afford to buy and display KID's targets when it's clear they have more gemstones than brain cells. At least Advisor Suzuki has the decency to tell them to stay out when he puts in something dangerous. Tonight's idiot probably doesn't even realize how dangerous his so-called 'security' actually is.
He pulls his radio from his belt and punches in the correct channel they planned to use for tonight's heist, pushing the switch as he lifts the radio up to his mouth, "This is Sasaki, I have a code Orange-5, I repeat, Orange-5, anyone copy?"
The radio gives him nothing but static in response.
Sasaki is mentally reciting a litany of curses directed towards the absolute idiot of a jewel-owner who chose this disaster of a mansion to display KID's target for this heist as he marches down the hallway. (The Inspector had already spent half an hour berating the owner because he'd planted jamming devices in the display room without informing the police, and now the Taskforce had severely hampered communication.) He seriously regrets checking this hallway last, because Nakamori-keibu needs to know about this idiotic 'security' idea before it gets them all killed. He'd been hoping that one of the others would be out of range of the idiot's jamming device, but repeating his report as he moves away from the room still gets him nothing but static from the radio.
So Sasaki is hurrying down this stupidly roundabout route that is the only path back because apparently the person who had built this monstrosity of a mansion was also an idiot who had no concept of efficiency. (The room the damn device was in literally shared a wall with the display room, yet he had to go almost the entire way across the house before he got to a connecting hallway and could actually head back towards the display room.) It might have been possible to set the thing off relatively safely if the damned idiot had bothered to tell someone—anyone!—that he'd set it up (because then Sasaki could have forced him to either get rid of it or modify it to actually account for chemical safety procedures). Nakamori-keibu could have taken measures to reduce the risk, although really the best way to do that was to not even think about using this stupidly dangerous 'security', but since Sasaki is the only one currently aware of the danger (if the idiot is aware of the danger and set this up regardless, Sasaki will strangle him), there's a high likelihood that everyone in the display room will be seriously harmed.
A swift check of his watch as he finally reaches the connecting hallway has him loudly swearing vengeance on the idiot—the heist will be starting in five minutes and it's likely the idiot will set off his 'trap' as soon as KID appears. Sasaki breaks into a run. He would sprint, but the way back is actually through several turns, and tripping himself or running into a wall because he was moving too quickly would only waste time he doesn't have.
He doesn't have anywhere near the sense of time that cocky teenage detective has, but Sasaki swears he can feel the minutes slipping past him as he runs through the maze-like building, praying he doesn't misremember a turn and have to backtrack. When he spots the door to the display room, he doesn't slow even to check his watch—and he must look a sight because Tanaka doesn't even try to stop him from barreling straight through the door.
His entrance catches the attention of every officer in the room, and he slows but keeps moving—KID's target is displayed near the back right wall, and Nakamori-keibu is already shouting at him to explain himself.
"Keibu! Orange-5; in this room and any adjacent!" The two officers nearest him simultaneously reach to give him a face-pinch, and Sasaki hisses in pain but it's worth it as Nakamori-keibu starts barking orders as soon as they prove he's not wearing a mask.
"Right! Squad C, stay on guard! Squad D, with Sasaki on possible mitigation! Everyone else—"
The inspector is interrupted by a cloud of smoke obscuring the quarter of the room containing the gem display, and Sasaki can't see anything but pink. Even though he can't see, he can hear the hissing sound from the ceiling and the chemical smell of the liquid being sprayed on them from above is so distinctive he could recognize it in his sleep. Shit—if he can smell it this strongly this is worse than he thought—and when KID's smoke finally clears Sasaki is horrified because there is an entire quadrant of the room which is absolutely drenched in an extremely flammable chemical.
"MASKS NOW!" Sasaki roars, because while inhalation isn't the major hazard, with how much of the stuff is in the room he doesn't want to risk it. The Taskforce swiftly follow the order, and Nakamori-keibu signals Sasaki to continue giving orders; all the pre-hiatus Taskforce officers know that Sasaki has more knowledge of and experience with chemical hazards than all of them combined. (Out of the corner of his eye he sees that KID has also produced a mask from somewhere and put it on. Relieved that KID acknowledged the danger—and the thief should know how dangerous this is, since the running theory is that the thief makes his own sleep gas and smoke-bombs—Sasaki dismisses KID from his mind. Catching the thief can wait until they're not in danger of sparking an explosion that might destroy half the building.)
"That's KID!" shouts the gem owner, "Why aren't you arresting him?!"
Sasaki rounds on the idiot in absolute fury. "Your so-called security," he hisses, "has just created a safety hazard that can set this entire room ablaze with a single spark. You may be fined for willful and serious violation of safety standards. In addition, you can be held liable for any injury which was caused by your violation." The man pales, and Sasaki finishes smugly, "I suggest you not interfere with our efforts to prevent those injuries from occurring."
As the idiot nods rapidly, Sasaki orders his fellow officers, "Anyone who was hit with the chemical spray, take off any contaminated clothing and follow him to the nearest shower, worst hit in the shower first." Sasaki points at the idiot owner, who walks briskly towards the exit of the room, looking relieved to have an excuse to get away. Mentally counting the number of officers removing clothing (and shedding the outer layer of his uniform, grateful he was only at the edge of the spray) he continues, "E squad, grab the spares and follow them; make sure everyone rinses off for at least five minutes."
There are only two officers from D squad who weren't hit, so Sasaki tells them, "D squad, 119, we need fire trucks and a HAZMAT team." The two officers salute and head out of the room to make the call.
"B squad, A squad, I want every window and door on the hallway with this room wide open, the more air we can get through here, the better." As the remaining officers exit the room, Sasaki looks around for anything that could potentially start a fire. (KID seems to have disappeared at some point while he was distracted, but he's not too worried, the thief probably went to douse himself somewhere the Taskforce wouldn't see him remove the suit.) His biggest concern was that with the number of people in the room and the alarmingly high vapor concentration, someone would cause a static spark and set off an explosion. He doesn't see anything that looks like a potential ignition source, and (hopefully) increasing the airflow through the room will decrease the vapor concentration enough to be helpful in keeping the house from exploding.
He parks himself in the display room doorway and starts ordering officers out of the mansion as they report back to him. As far as Sasaki is concerned; the sooner everyone is out of the building entirely, the better. He breathes a small sigh of relief when Nakamori-keibu informs him that all the officers are accounted for (and that a few of them reported seeing KID's glider launch from the fourth-floor observatory of the ridiculous mansion) and follows the inspector out of the building.
Outside, Sasaki notices that most of the Taskforce seems to have been dismissed (or at least sent back to the station to start on their paperwork) except for a handful who are insisting very firmly to the idiot gem owner that he needs to describe to the firemen and HAZMAT crew the details of the chemical addition he made to the security. Two fire trucks have already arrived, and the firemen appear have been informed about the situation as they are headed around the outside of the building towards the location of the display room. When the HAZMAT team arrives a minute later, Sasaki gives exact directions to both the display room and the room containing the chemical release mechanism, and lists the steps he's taken to reduce the likelihood of a chemical fire.
Potential disaster now fully in the hands of people specially equipped to deal with it safely, Sasaki and Nakamori-keibu are free to return to the station and join the rest of the Taskforce for a debriefing. The first words out of Nakamori-keibu's mouth when they reach the Division Two bullpen are, "New rule: During each heist, firefighters and paramedics will be on standby at the heist location in case of unexpected emergencies."
(Sasaki is mildly bemused to see a package on his desk the next morning. When he opens it to reveal a mask-wearing Kaitou KID plush holding a sign that reads 'safety first', signed with the usual doodle, it takes him five minutes to stop laughing long enough to pull the plush toy out of the box.
The toy gets displayed proudly on his desk.)
A/N: If you're wondering, I did base this off a real chemical and the recommended safety procedures for it. Acetone is extremely flammable, but not seriously dangerous to people unless you get it in your eyes/mouth. Sasaki is doing his best with non-ideal circumstances here.
I've a few ideas for other Taskforce members to be introduced in the future :D
